1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an anchor chain system for a ship or smaller vessel. More particularly, the invention comprises a chain having certain links of a material dissimilar to the material of the other links, which are spaced at regular intervals along the length of the chain, for the electronic monitoring of the amount of chain deployed from a reel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the anchorage of ships or smaller vessels, it is desirable to know how much anchor chain has been deployed at any given time. Various methods have been employed over the years for anchoring and/or measuring the length of anchor chain deployed, including:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,922, issued to Cooper on Oct. 20, 1992, discloses a DEPTH MEASURING DEVICE WITH WEAR RESISTANT GUIDE MEANS wherein the length of cable deployed is measured by the number of rotations of a wheel mounted tangentially to the cable.
A MOORING SYSTEM FOR FLOATING DRILLING VESSELS is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,981, issued on Jan. 31, 1978, to Guinn, et al., in which the amount of anchor chain deployed is determined by a device which counts the links as the chain is deployed.
The above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.